Re: New Generation Fighter
I tend to believe that India's development shortcomings are more fundamental than whether they have invested in jet engine technology. It's a question both of whether they have the necessary resources, and whether they have invested them wisely.
In 1986, shortly after India at first launched its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program in 1983, India launched the development of its indigenous Kaveri engine program. The first core did not run until 1995, however, and India was forced to eventually abandon the Kaveri in favor of an off-the-shelf, US-supplied F404 when the first LCA prototype (or Tejas) finally flew in 2001.
There are a number of lessons to be learned from this story. The first, is that developing a modern, jet fighter engine is much more difficult than developing and building the airframe. There are only a handful of nations, and a handful of manufacturers in the world, that have developed and produced their own modern jet fighter engine. There are many more, in contrast, that have developed and produced their own fighter airframe.
Second, there is a sharp contrast between Chinese and Indian development efforts over the past two decades. The Tejas was under development for 15 years before its first prototype flight in 2001, and for 22 year by the time that the first production aircraft took to the skies in 2008. For decades, the Indian program suffered because their program leadership insisted on following an "all indigeneous" path to success - refusing to adopt lessons learned and experience from foreign developers who could have shortened the development process.
In contrast, the J-10 program as we know it now was not really launched until 1991 (when it underwent a radical redesign), and within just over a decade produced an operational fighter that is today being produced in large numbers. What was the difference? Political will was a large part of it. Once China's leadership truly committed to making the program happen, it happened very quickly. The other major difference was a willingness to learn an borrow from the success of other nations' programs. A successful J-10 was deemed to be a national priority - not whether everything that came off the manufacturing line had been invented in China first.
I am convinced that China has the resources and capabilities to master a great many technical challenges, if they choose to do so. Within a decade, we will all be seeing a new generation, low observable Chinese fighter take to the skies. For China, it's purely a matter of having the political will to carry it out. I am somewhat less confident that the Russian PAK-FA will enter large scale production within that same time frame, and India's next generation fighters will be imported - whether from Russia or from the US.
I tend to believe that India's development shortcomings are more fundamental than whether they have invested in jet engine technology. It's a question both of whether they have the necessary resources, and whether they have invested them wisely.
In 1986, shortly after India at first launched its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program in 1983, India launched the development of its indigenous Kaveri engine program. The first core did not run until 1995, however, and India was forced to eventually abandon the Kaveri in favor of an off-the-shelf, US-supplied F404 when the first LCA prototype (or Tejas) finally flew in 2001.
There are a number of lessons to be learned from this story. The first, is that developing a modern, jet fighter engine is much more difficult than developing and building the airframe. There are only a handful of nations, and a handful of manufacturers in the world, that have developed and produced their own modern jet fighter engine. There are many more, in contrast, that have developed and produced their own fighter airframe.
Second, there is a sharp contrast between Chinese and Indian development efforts over the past two decades. The Tejas was under development for 15 years before its first prototype flight in 2001, and for 22 year by the time that the first production aircraft took to the skies in 2008. For decades, the Indian program suffered because their program leadership insisted on following an "all indigeneous" path to success - refusing to adopt lessons learned and experience from foreign developers who could have shortened the development process.
In contrast, the J-10 program as we know it now was not really launched until 1991 (when it underwent a radical redesign), and within just over a decade produced an operational fighter that is today being produced in large numbers. What was the difference? Political will was a large part of it. Once China's leadership truly committed to making the program happen, it happened very quickly. The other major difference was a willingness to learn an borrow from the success of other nations' programs. A successful J-10 was deemed to be a national priority - not whether everything that came off the manufacturing line had been invented in China first.
I am convinced that China has the resources and capabilities to master a great many technical challenges, if they choose to do so. Within a decade, we will all be seeing a new generation, low observable Chinese fighter take to the skies. For China, it's purely a matter of having the political will to carry it out. I am somewhat less confident that the Russian PAK-FA will enter large scale production within that same time frame, and India's next generation fighters will be imported - whether from Russia or from the US.
